light my fire
by berryargento
Summary: There was a camera on the ground, there were stars on the sky, what else that she was waiting for? — RinMaki. A bit of AU, drabbles.
1. agidyne

Tonight, the stars were pretty, just like that night when—

"Maki-chan."

There was her camera on the ground,

There were stars on the sky,

What else that she was waiting for?

"Maki-chan, you'll catch a cold if you keep sitting there."

But it is no use for Koizumi Hanayo to tell the girl a few times, also, she did it almost every single day. The red-haired girl will stay at the amusement park with her camera until late at night or when the park staffs shooed her from her stay.

Tonight, the stars were pretty, just like that night when—

* * *

"Maki-chan, want to take a photo together?"

That night is when Hoshizora Rin asked her to go to the amusement park together, there was an event regarding Tanabata Festival that the owner decided to open the observatory until midnight. Maki is quite puzzled that she was asked to be there out of blue, and just the two of them (actually, she'd ask Hanayo, her former roommate, not her, the neighbor next door).

"The stars are pretty, they could be the best background for us, nya!" she exclaimed.

Maki was reluctant at first, then she nodded slowly and ready to bring her camera.

"Just use my cell phone, please?"

"Alright, alright."

The chartreuse-eyed girl posed as she held her cell phone, Maki stood beside her, lowered her head as well as smiled. They took four shots and created the collage out of it. Maki, the apprentice photographer, checked the result after Rin saved the photo.

The angle was so-so, and well, phone camera will never satisfy you by the result but … Rin looks naturally good in it, the stars also nicely captured.

"Aww Maki-chan, you should smile more, you're cute!"

A blush crept out on her cheek, "S-Shut up!"

Rin ran away while Maki tried to scold her more. Eventually, they stopped at the farthest railing to the east, the telescope there was occupied, so they can't use it at the moment.

"Hey, Maki-chan," Rin tugged her arm, she pointed the sky with her index finger. "Do you know which constellation is it?"

Her amethyst orbs squinted. She knows constellations much; after all stars are her favorite thing to see at night, but she couldn't find anything in the direction where Rin designated.

As her mind stay focused, a warm sensation wrapped her lips.

Huh, what—

"Got you."

Hoshizora Rin stood right before her, with a smile that never faded.

"To think that I fell in love with an uptight, tsundere photographer next door …" her voice was low. "It must be a fate, don't you think, Maki-chan?

* * *

"Hanayo, can you answer this for me?" Maki let out her hoarse voice for once. "Why she decided to leave me alone? Leaving me without bothering to tell me anything?"

Hanayo was at lost of words.

She knew that Rin had plotted to confess to Maki that night, that she would ask Maki to some place that she might like, to enjoy a night with her while the redhead has no knowledge about what might happen next …

The next day, the door to Rin's apartment was wide open, leaving a letter contained a love umbrella written by a thick black marker.

 _Rin | Maki_

 _Please don't come to find me._

* * *

A/N. Thanks for reading!  
And if anyone ask whether this will continue or not ... well, who knows.


	2. azure cessation

_"She loves her, more than the countless stars in the lone night sky."_

[ agidye || azure cessation ]

* * *

Hoshizora Rin smiled as she saw the photograph she had taken that night. She was so happy that she is able to make it to her home screen wallpaper without Maki noticed.

That kiss.

Come to think again, Rin didn't receive the exact reply from the red-haired amateur photographer, except that she gazed awkwardly and stood in silence.

 _Did she do a bad thing?_

Her mind wandered as she think back to when Maki first moved next door after Kayo-chin – Koizumi Hanayo, her former roommate – decided to move out because of her parents' insistence. Hanayo knew Maki from her work, and said that she's a very shy person, but …

Rin giggled to herself, as to note several clumsiness and the redhead tsundere traits. At first, they were like headbutting at each other, they constantly argued, they never got in the same values, they were –

 _A click on the old camera. It was the first time she stopped to observe Nishikino Maki up close. She's so different when she had the camera on; taking scenery with an open eye,_ _fixing her point of view from the small viewfinder,_

 _She was absorbed in her own world that Maki is simply Maki._

 _At that moment, she came to realize that_ _she loves her, Hoshizora Rin loves Nishikino Maki more than the countless stars in the lone night sky._

A sigh escaped her lips as she glanced back at her phone screen.

 _It's time, Rin. Time's up._

* * *

[ "Why she decided to leave me alone? Leaving me without bothering to tell me anything?" ]

 _She knew that Rin had plotted to confess to Maki that night, that she would ask Maki to some place that she might like, to enjoy a night with her while the redhead has no knowledge about what might happen next …_

Hanayo was the one who decided to pay a visit over the two when she noticed that the apartment was all but void.

The next day, the door to Rin's apartment was wide open, leaving a letter contained a love umbrella written by a thick black marker.

 _Rin exclaimed happily that she fell in love with someone whom she met for a while. She said that she might've gone crazy. She said that she finally understand that feelings called love is amazing._

Maki quickly got in there, she was shocked as she read the letter, droplets of water flowed freely from her lavender orbs.

Just like what she is doing right now.

Again, her tears never stop, akin to an endless river stream.

And there, Hanayo couldn't help but stood in silence.

"Why …?" she sobbed. "Why she didn't give me a chance to say … that I love her too?" Maki clutched harder to her own body, hugged it tightly as if it is her lifeline. "Why she didn't give me a chance to return her kiss?"

* * *

The letter was … long.

 _Maki-chan, I'm sorry, I have to leave now. The moment I confessed, I said to myself that I'll do it, but at the same time, I know that I won't suffice, I will never make you happy._

Apparently, it is folded the way that the love umbrella will be the most distinguishable part of the paper.

 _I don't know. I just don't know. I … whenever I see you, I want to make you happy. I want to free you from all your burdens, I want you to forget your past, I want you to look at me and the distant future,_ _that you finally moved on from getting dumped by your family, about those wrongdoings that they have been done to you, forget those hardships that you've been through, but …_

Her eyes blurred. Her heart sank. She can't bring herself to read those –

 _So I make my own bet. You ever said to me that you won't have any feelings to the person you hate, right?_

 _If you reply right away, I'll try to believe that I'm doing the right thing. That I'm not hurting you by any way. However, if you didn't … I …_

 _I'll just disappear from being a Hoshizora Rin._


	3. ragnarok

_"Months later, she eventually forgets her warmth, and …"_

[ azure cessation || **ragnarok** ]

* * *

She snapped the camera, as she found the angle is suitable enough with every element there. Maki took down her equipment as she waved the model to close their session.

Perfect photos for today, too.

Everything was doing slow for her, as time goes by and she couldn't help but always visiting the same place ever again, every day.

Minutes turned hours, hours turned days, days turned months.

Nothing changed, it is the usual scenery of amusement park, the layout of abandoned apartment or her line of work that quickly piled up within days.

Months later, she eventually forgets her warmth–Hoshizora Rin's ever present gleam beside her, and …

"I take it that you want the usual?"

The blonde-haired owner winked at her as she brought up the stainless steel pot contained hot water. Maki was busy cleaning her camera lens that she didn't pay much attention to her friend.

"Oh, yeah, the usual latte macchiato." Maki didn't bat an eye. "And less sugar."

Ayase Eli brewed the coffee as ordered behind the counter.

"How's work? You look busy every day."

"Uhh, I am. I'm aiming to be the professional photographer this year," the redhead answered.

"Do you still take a photo of the night sky? The one that you always showed me to be hanged on this cafe's wall?"

Her cleaning stopped rather abruptly. Indeed, on her first time, she would be there to show what she got as she practiced her skills. However, as for now, she never has the chance to at least give a photo for Eli to see, or night skies to photograph.

"Maki?"

"Ah, yes?"

"You look pale. Don't you think you overwork yourself?"

She did her signature hair twirl. "No, I think …" she gazed somewhere else.

She would have the important photo session tomorrow, and basically what she did today is to prepare for it. She was in the road of become the professional, after all.

"Your health is important," Eli added. "Either Nozomi or Hanayo will snap out when they see you like this."

Pitch-black sky… the moon … those stars …

Come to think of it, she didn't have any chance to do her hobby either, stargazing. Going for an open sea or climbing to the high mountain might be the better idea to do–

But again, night skies made her thoughts about a certain someone resurfaced very fast.

 _'… stop being Hoshizora Rin._ '

She was still stuck, thinking about the words on and on like a broken tape.

"Stop being a worrywart already, you guys," Maki sighed. "I'll be fine, geez."

* * *

"Didn't it make you worry?"

Eli cleaned the tall glasses as she spare a glance to Koizumi Hanayo and Toujou Nozomi on the bar seats. Maki was busy with her work again today as Nozomi invited her to have a coffee together once awhile. It has been a week since Eli saw Maki taking a break over work.

"She's so stubborn," Nozomi noted with a low grunt. "But there's nothing we can do. She's— you _know_ her, Elicchi."

"Ever since Rin left, nowhere to be found, she has been like this …" Hanayo shoulder's drooped, hands tightened over her cup of hot chocolate. "There's nothing that I can do except to check up on her when I have time, or asking Nico-chan to do it."

Six months without any information about a certain orange-haired young woman.

Six months without having a glum Nishikino Maki.

"I wonder where Rin-chan is," Hanayo looked to her empty cup. "I just hope that she comes back."

* * *

At a very late night, Maki passed the crossroad around her apartment block, hand holding her belongings, mainly her camera and other equipment. She got home at midnight because the session of the photoshoot was longer than she would have expected.

She was happy that she could get all the praise from the superior photographer, as well as some professional journalist that came by the shoot of a certain orchestra performance.

Maki decided that she might as well drop by Eli's place to get a free cup of midnight special black coffee.

As suddenly, her vision blurred significantly.

Maybe she got an anemia or something, she hadn't had anything to eat since morning, and—

Blood dripped from her nose, it seems, as she wiped the warm liquid from her nostrils.

The last thing she saw was the front of Eli's bar before everything decreased into blissful darkness.


	4. maragi

_"I don't know when, but suddenly I fell. I fell in love with her. The real her."  
_

[ ragnarok || **maragi** ]

* * *

 _"Rin, stop it! You disturb my concentration!"_

 _Maki took a time to get the orange-haired young woman a good chop on the head as she kept bouncing here and there where she want to take a sample picture of scenery beyond her, a night at the garden on the skyscraper around Akihabara._

 _"But seeing you become all serious with the camera is fun,_ nya _!" Rin complimented. "It's like, Rin finally can see the other side of Maki-chan!"_

 _"Aw,_ jeez. _" she hid her blush. "At least can you please just sit down quietly until I finish this and then we can go to your favorite Ramen shop?"_

 _Their connection was always like this, full of bickering, full of nonsense, full of something out of ordinary._

 _Maki only knows that the person whom lived next door is working as an athlete, that she loves to train kids for free in the afternoon around Akihabara, and the fact that they kept bumping around each other as Maki tried to find an inspiration for her improvement in photography._

 _It takes the redhead's great amount of patience to handle Hoshizora Rin._

 _In the same time, as Hanayo ever said, she seems to always having fun around_ Nishikino _Maki._

("I don't know when, but suddenly I fell, Kayo-chin. I fell in love with her. The real her.")

* * *

"So, anemia, doctor?"

"Yes," he tilted his old glasses.

She can hear sounds of a conversation over, her mind was in a complete mix of blur and haziness that it's impossible for her to know her surroundings well enough. The pain on her head is unbearable, she almost can't feel anything else.

"It's because overworking, I presume," the doctor continued. "It's better that she stay at this hospital for a while. After a rest for day or two, she should be better."

"Thank you."

She heard the door is closed, and a person inched closer to her as she can feel the unusual warmth wrapped her still cold fingers.

As if her hands made of glass, someone held onto her hand carefully.

"Please, open your eyes," the voice said. "I … want to see you."

* * *

Eli's voice was the first thing she realized as she opened her eyes to the bright, white ceiling of the hospital. She was about to sit up as her headache is there to stop her.

"Not so fast, Maki," Eli warned. "Stay still. Don't dare to move."

"What … have happened?" Maki asked, almost like a weak whisper.

"You collapsed and being taken to the hospital three days ago," the blonde young woman chided. "Both me and Nozomi were shocked, you really gave us a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry … I …"

"I told you many times that you are overworking, Maki-chan," came the Kansai-accented voice right behind Eli. Her usual playful smirk was not there, it's only her worried pair of emerald orbs that took Maki's attention. "Know your limits."

Eli and Nozomi took her time to reprimand Maki. The redhead couldn't help but to be silent since her usual scoff will only hurt the worrying Eli and Nozomi. Nozomi said that she collapsed due to anemia and fatigue, she had nosebleed beforehand, too, means that it could be a worst-case scenario if it happened often. Eli repeated many times that she didn't want to see things like this happened again, also for Maki to always eat regularly and to take much rest.

"Umm, Nozomi, Eli?"

"Hmm?"

"When I was unconscious I … heard sounds making conversation …"

"It must be the doctors." Eli deducted. "Or maybe Hanayo? She visits you quite often."

 _No_ , Maki rejected mentally, _It was not like Hanayo at all._

"Then, who's the one who saved me?"

Nozomi tilted her head, "That, we didn't know, too. We just get a call from the hospital."

 _Don't tell me._


	5. burning petals

( _This is the final chapter, happy reading guys._ )

[ maragi || **burning petals** ]

* * *

"Geez, Hanayo, you don't need to come and help, I'm fine now!"

"But Maki-chan ...!"

It took a while for Maki to be released from the hospital. She's back to her usual self after getting much rest (with Eli and Nozomi insistence that she should watch her health more). Hanayo came to the hospital to pick Maki up, as both Eli and Nozomi were busy at the moment, also that nobody wanted Maki to be all reckless when she's just being released. Hanayo needed to keep her under her watch, as Maki must not work for a day or two.

"It's strange, but ..." Maki paused. "I had a really good dream once I was unconscious."

"What kind of dream?"

A dream about Rin, she surmised. They met in the usual park, talking like nothing had ever happened. Maki endured Rin's usual antics while Rin constantly tried to make fun of her. They would enjoy their day together, simply fooling around, eating together ...

"That's a utopia, I know," Maki admitted. "I want to let the feeling go, but sometimes it's just my heart that couldn't do it."

Hanayo let out an exasperated sigh as she didn't know what else to say.

Maki mellowed once again. She hoped highly that she wouldn't strain herself anymore over it.

* * *

It has been quite some time since Maki breathed a fresh air, hospital rooms felt too cramped and lonely for her.

The spring breeze was something that welcomed her after she was being free. They went outside the hospital shortly after all things being packed up. Hanayo suggested that they took a bit detour to downtown to visit a cafe. Maki kinda missed Eli's coffee, now that the brown-haired young woman mentioned it, and she missed to take a photo or two since Hanayo brought her favorite DSLR camera along. They took a slower walk throughout the park in front of the hospital complex, enjoying the view of Sakura tree and its dancing petals while talking randomly.

She felt her breath came into a halt.

She caught a glimpse of someone familiar.

Short orange hair, wearing a dark yellow hooded jacket, but with unfamiliar glasses that framed the shining chartreuse orbs.

"What's wrong, Maki-chan?" concerned Hanayo tilted her head as Maki stopped walking and talking.

* * *

 _Every time she saw her, all she sense was the bottomless grief and guilt._

 _She left Maki because she knew that she was no good for her, she was nothing but something that will make Maki cry again, she—_

 _Hoshizora Rin tilted her glasses._

 _It has been quite some time as she donned new identity over her Hoshizora Rin persona. She wore glasses, she changed her jobs, she removed herself completely from Maki's and other's way so they won't notice that she was still around._

 _She saw her every day,_

 _Rin saw Maki every day,_

 _At amusement park,_

 _At every place that they ever met before._

 _At every place where their memories would return._

 _Every time she saw her, all she sense was the bottomless grief and guilt._

 _Hoshizora Rin seated beside Maki's bed, stroking the redhead's fluffy hair softly. She was the one who saved Maki from her fall in front of Eli's cafe, as she just seen her there,_

 _She wanted to apologize._

 _She wanted to meet Maki so badly._

 _She wanted to see Maki so badly that it hurts—_

 _"Are you her acquaintance?" the nurse said. "The doctor would like to talk to you."_

 _Apparently, Maki fainted because of overworking, anemia, as well as her lack of eating. Then again, she realized that it was because of her departure, her missing state, that Maki was lost._

 _Yet again ... she just couldn't believe it._

 _Maki loved her back._

 _Hanayo even said it many times in her text, as well as Eli and Nozomi._

 _She still couldn't believe it._

 _Eventually, she was a very being that Maki sought, she's—_

 _"Rin." the orange-haired woman jolted as the person she patted calling her name in her sleep. "Rin—"_

 _She closed her eyes as she retracted her hand from Maki's hair. She cursed inwardly as she felt that she was a loser. A loser that made one girl cry and miserable._

 _"Maki-chan," she whispered, her voice was torn. "I'm sorry," she wrecked a sob. The orange-haired young woman clasped her own hands to the unmoving ones. "I'm so sorry that I left ..."_

* * *

Black frame glasses; dark yellow hoodie; short, messy orange tresses.

The owner of glasses doing a glasses tilt as she noticed the redhead that had spotted her stood there, not moving even an inch. She opened her mouth, about to call the woman's name, however ...

"No, Hanayo, I think I'm being delusional." Maki averted her gaze completely. "I-I'm just tired, there's no way that—"

"Maki-chan."

Her name rang in the air. Her name being spoken in a familiar, raspy voice of someone that she knew all too well.

"Maki-chan, it's me," she repeated. "Hoshizora Ri— _GAH_!"

Her introductory was cut short as the red-haired woman lunged to her way, crashed her, made her fell because of sudden contact. She could hear a yelp coming from Hanayo, she could feel a weight over her body, and she could sense that her butt is hurt because it hit the concrete pavement.

She was about to wince about her pained butt as she felt something warm drenched her hoodie.

Tears.

Maki was crying on her arms, not bothering to make an eye contact with her as she buried herself over Rin. The orange-haired woman couldn't help but to pat Maki's back.

"I-Idiot!" her voice was broken with all the sobbing. "Where the hell did you wander off to you idiot ...!?"

"Rin's sorry," she replied in a low voice. "I-I thought that I would be a—"

"Don't just conclude everything, idiot!" she interjected. "Y-You didn't even hear what I might feel!"

"I ..." I'm just afraid that I might be on the list of the person that hurt you, Maki-chan.

"Maki-chan, Rin-chan, are you okay? You guys give me a heart-attack there." Hanayo said, half-gasping. "There, let me help you guys stand up—"

* * *

There was silent that embraced the three as they visited Eli's coffee shop and waited for Maki to calm down. Eli was a bit - angry because of Rin's sudden disappearance, but she was relieved nonetheless that the woman is back. However, Eli still awarded Rin's come back with a scowl on the face and nothing but plain water, while Hanayo explained how they met each other.

Maki still clutched over Rin's body like a baby, didn't let Rin go. That was very ... un-Maki-like.

It's cute, though. She thought to herself as she continued to stroke Maki's red hair.

"Maki-chan, I'm sorry, nya, I really am." Rin repeated the line once more. "Maki-chan, Maki-chan, I'm sorry, I'm not going anywhere."

For once, Maki looked up, her eyes were swollen.

"... You are not lying, aren't you?" she whispered.

"I-I'm not, nya. I promise!"

She let go of Rin and took her seat beside the orange-haired woman. She wiped the remaining of her tears and her red nose as she looked downward. Silence was inevitable as Eli served Maki's usual share of espresso, and Rin was all but cramped shut. Hanayo tried to ease the atmosphere but to no avail.

"Where the hell were you?" Eli commented. "I thought you were - ugh."

"I-I'm sorry for you guys too, I'm sorry that I left." Rin apologized as she hung her head low. "I ... I'm really sorry!"

"Enough for the apologize," the blonde-haired bartender. "Welcome back, though, I'm still not amused by your action, Rin, for God's sake."

"I'm –"

"I'll let Nozomi give you punishment later."

"Please, anything but that, nya."

* * *

As they got to the apartement, with Hanayo accompanied them with her car, the brown-haired woman was unsure as to left the two alone for a second, because Maki was completely quite for all the time, the chit-chatter with

Eli remained the usual—Rin begged for Eli and Nozomi's forgiveness, mainly—but Maki, after the outburst, she was nothing but reserved Maki.

Rin tilted her glasses.

"Rin-chan."

"Yes?"

"Be sure to ... take care of Maki-chan, okay?"

"Mhm, I promise."

"Don't leave her anymore," Hanayo pouted. "You guys really made me—"

"I know, Kayo-chin," she let out wistful smile. "Thank you for always watching us."

"I'll be leaving then, good night for you two."

"Yeah," she nodded, as she replied, "Good luck with Nico-chan, Kayo-chin."

* * *

Rin was surprised as to see that Maki leaned in front of her door, staring to the sky above with a blank look.

Her red nose still intact, also with her swollen eyes because the tears she spilled. A struck of guilt again gnawed at her, however she decided to approach her, and stood up beside her.

"Stars are pretty, right?" Rin began. "Everytime I see the stars, I always reminded about you."

No answer.

"You really like stargazing, and you know everything about stars."

Again, no answer.

 _That was given, wasn't it? Maki sure had it rought without her around.—_

It took her a split second to comprehend that her hoodie was being pulled, and Maki closed the distant between them with a kiss. Her chartreuse eyes widened in surprise as she didn't react, at all, while Maki leading her, kissing her many times.

"M-M-Maki-chan?"

Maki stopped at the call of her name, her closed eye lids opened as she gazed the bespectacled young woman.

"I'm sorry, are you surprised?" there was a tint of red on her cheek. "I ... I wanted to return your kiss from that day."

"Um," her throat felt dry. It's not usual for her to be embarrassed. "I-I'm just too happy that you did it, nya. Maki-chan being forward, it's so cute!"

Eventually she pulled, as she tried to hid the redness of her face. "W-W-What's with that reaction! I-I don't understand you!"

"So ..." she hummed. "You are not angry with me, right?"

"As long as you won't leave me like that again." she added. Maki sretched her pinky finger in front of Rin. "Promise me."

She welcomed, "Alright."

...

("Welcome back, Rin," she whispered as their lips met once again. "I love you.")

* * *

[ **end.** ]


End file.
